Activists demonstrate in front of the Supreme Curt in Buenos Aires. | Photo: Twitter/@CaroSilvestre

Buenos Aires, January 17 (RHC)-- Social movements mobilized in Jujuy province, Argentina on Saturday to demand freedom for the Indigenous activist Milagro Salas as January 16 marks the fifth anniversary of her illegal imprisonment.

Milagro Sala, a Tupac Amaru leader, gained nationwide notoriety for her fight against powerful conservative politicians in Jujuy province.  The activist spent over three years in jail under inhumane conditions until the authorities allow her to remain under house arrest since 2019.

On Saturday social activists rejected "a disproportionate deployment of the police" in Jujuy ahead of the demonstrations.  "This operation is one more example of the process of repression, criminalization, and judicialization of social protest that we have been denouncing since December 2015," the participants remarked in a statement.

Likewise, the social movements highlighted that "both the National Constitution and that of the province of Jujuy guarantee the right to social protest and dissent and express publicly against any measure that a government may take, indeed, these rights constitute the basis of our democracy."

The demonstrators also warned that the local government of Gerardo Morales would be responsible for any confrontation with the police.  Social activists also mobilized in Buenos Aires in front of the Supreme Court to denounce the injustice against Milagro Sala.